Won’t Back Down

Share via

Maggie Gyllenhaal and Viola Davis star in the emotional button-pressing,
crusading mum drama Won’t Back Down. Feisty single mother Jamie (Gyllenhaal)
and disillusioned teacher Nona (Davis) join forces to try to turn around a
failing inner-city school. Cue endless repetition of the mantra: “We are
doing this for the children.” The teachers’ union takes against this idea
and mounts an underhand campaign to discredit the women.

I’m a sucker for the “inspirational teacher”, genre in which young minds are
moulded and lives are touched but, even so, this is a little saccharine and
flat-footed. It also plays on every parent’s